California man arrested near U.S.-Canada border on terrorism charge

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A California man who prosecutors say was on
his way to Syria to join an al Qaeda splinter group was arrested
on Monday near the U.S.-Canada border in Washington state on a
terrorism charge, federal officials said.

The U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement that
20-year-old Nicholas Teausant, an American-born convert to Islam,
had planned to cross into Canada and travel on to Syria to join
Islamist militants.

A criminal complaint outlining the accusations against Teausant
said he wanted to join an al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria, which it said was also known as the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

"My designs have me staying there and being on every news station
in the world," the criminal complaint quoted Teausant as telling
an FBI informant last month.

"I'm going to be a commander and I'm going to be on the front of
every single newspaper in the country," he said. "Like I want my
face on FBI's top 12 most wanted. Because that means I'm doing
something right."

The complaint said Teausant planned to join the group to engage
in jihad, or Islamic holy struggle, and to fight the
Western-backed Free Syrian Army, which is battling the government
of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war.

ISIL, a small but powerful force that emerged from the Sunni
Islamist insurgency in neighboring Iraq and has attracted many
foreign militants to its ranks, opposes the Assad government but
has also fought rival rebel factions.

Teausant also spoke of wanting to target the subway system in Los
Angeles on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, according to the
U.S. complaint, but discontinued his involvement over fears
authorities had caught wind of it.

Teausant was arrested near the border in Blaine, Washington, on a
charge of attempting to provide material support to a foreign
terrorist organization. In a brief court appearance in Seattle on
Monday, he showed little emotion as his lawyer asked that his
case be transferred to California, a request granted by the
judge.

Teausant faces a maximum of 15 years in prison and a $250,000
fine if convicted. He was ordered to remain in custody pending
his transfer to California.

A student at San Joaquin Delta Community College in Stockton,
California, Teausant was also a member of the U.S. Army National
Guard, enlisting in 2012.

But as of December, he was in the process of being released from
the National Guard, where he held the rank of private, because he
"did not meet the minimum qualifications to continue," according
to the complaint. He had not gone through basic U.S. combat
training.

According to the criminal complaint, Teausant also said he had
gained custody of his infant daughter, but at one point said he
wanted to blow up her daycare center because it was a "Zionist
reform church."